'Hellelil and Hildebrand, Meeting on the Turret Stairs' by F. W. Burton and Iconic Realism

Hellelil and Hildebrand, Meeting on the Turret Stairs, 
painting by Frederic William Burton

Frederic William Burton was born in County Clare, Ireland in 1816. In his painting, Hellelil and Hildebrand, Meeting on the Turret Stairs, Burton depicts the medieval Danish ballad of two lovers, Helleilil and Hildebrand, a princess and a soldier, who meet in secret for a final embrace.  Here, Burton illustrates iconic realism in this richly hued watercolor as he places Helleilil in iconic royal blue with her back facing the audience. He links the arm of the soldier, dressed in a foreshadowing red, with that of the princess. Both heads held low, Burton intertwines the two lovers on a turret staircase. We cannot see which way they are moving, almost as if time has been stilled in this embrace. We would normally not see this kind of meeting represented with such vivid hue, but with iconic realism, this blatant use of color brings awareness to the audience of a possible disconnect between the aristocracy and military. 

The Semiotic Theory of Iconic Realism and Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan), Writer and Patriot

 

Sydney Owenson Morgan and Harp 

(My book cover photo, permission to use photo has been given by the New York Public Library)

My semiotic theory of iconic realism is one I composed whilst researching Sydney Owenson’s national tale, The Wild Irish Girl. This semiotic theory of iconic realism involves any artist’s placement of a realistic, iconic object or person in a unique realistic setting in which this icon does not usually appear, to create a vivid representation of the icon within the designated realistic setting. 

Since both the icon and the realistic setting represent conceptual realism within a given culture which the artist’s rendering represents, this unexpected juxtaposition results in a vital perception. These two unusual entities, positioned by the artist, create awareness in the audience of a need for a change within the culture. 

Sydney Owenson incorporates the field of semiotics, dealing with the meaning of Irish terms and their connections with English interpretations. I had noticed the manner in which she established the iconic images of Ireland and England in realistic settings that were normally not associated with these images. In doing so, she brings to light the needed transformation of legislative and societal interactions between the 19th century English and Irish. 

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

To hear me read this, please click HERE.

Harriet Tubman and Iconic Realism

                                                                      (Photos from Google Images)

Harriet Tubman, aka "Moses of the Underground Railroad"

Harriet S. Tubman: Born Araminta Ross, c. March 1822, Dorchester County, Maryland, U.S.A. Died: March 10, 1913 in Auburn, New York, U.S.A.

During the early nineteenth century, when slavery was prevalent in the southern United States, a woman named Harriet Tubman had actually escaped to the north via the “Underground Railroad.” She decided to do something to help the enslaved individuals find freedom in the northern states and even further north in Canada and earned the title of "Moses" of the Underground Railroad. Eventually, she worked as an agent for the Union during the Civil War. (American Biography Channel)

Harriet Tubman illustrates the theory of iconic realism in that she was a former slave, physically weakened by the actions of a former slave owner, yet she rose above her horrific circumstances to become a woman on whom many relied to make their way to freedom. Not only that, but the actual government that established the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793, ended up hiring her as an agent for the Union Army during the American Civil War. 

Here, we have an iconic figure, placing herself in an environment not usually associated with such a woman, placed in that precarious environment in order to bring about a cultural transformation. In this case, that would be freedom for the enslaved. The most current recognition of this amazing woman is that it has been proposed to have her image representing the United States of America on the new 2030 dollar bill, but at this writing, I'm not sure if that will occur or not. 

Click on the link below to view a short biography of Mrs. Harriet Tubman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmsNGrkbHm4

Library of Congress Hawk, 'Human Kindness,' and Iconic Realism

Photo from Library of Congress blog

Years ago, in the U. S. Library of Congress Reading Room of the Jefferson Building, a hawk winged its way around the dome's ceiling, encircling a painting entitled, Human Kindness. Sometimes, nature becomes a work of art, and this was one of those occasions. Members of the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia brought in two European starlings to tempt the hawk from its lofty perch. The minute one of the starlings moved its head, the hawk swooped down to attack, only to be captured by Linda Moore (in photo) and taken to its new home at the Conservancy. 

This scene illustrated iconic realism in that the hawk, an iconic bird of prey, was flying freely inside an environment unusual for this creature, bringing attention to the act of human kindness and human stewardship both in the painting which it encircled and the actions of the ornithologists, who protected the starlings and brought the hawk to a more livable environment.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

To hear me read this, please click HERE.

Thank you, Veterans! 

From Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, United States Marine Corps: 

It is the soldier, not the reporter,

who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet,

who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,

who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the soldier, not the lawyer,

who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the soldier,

who salutes the flag,

who serves under the flag,

and whose coffin is draped by the flag,

who allows the protester to burn the flag.

James Joyce's 'Ulysses' and Iconic Realism through Cognitive Dissonance

This is an excerpt from a paper presented at the American Conference for Irish Studies, 2022:

The semiotic theory of iconic realism is the placement of a realistic iconic element within a realistic setting in which that element is not usually associated, to bring about the recognition of change that needs to occur in society. Throughout his novel, Ulysses, James Joyce illustrates iconic realism through cognitive dissonance by means of language that contains semantic components directly correlating with his characters and their settings. In turn, the readers interpret those linguistic features according to knowledge of the language and the manner in which the semantic elements align with their personal experience. 

The spirit of Joyce must navigate between what is expected of Leopold Bloom as a Jew and what his Dublin neighbors expect of him as an Irishman. This spirit first reveals itself in the chapter, entitled, "Telémachus" through Stephen Daedalus, as he experiences an internal conflict of his mother’s death, with visions of her appearing to him as did the ghost in Hamlet. This type of cognitive dissonance continues through the Homeric episodes. 

Moreover, Leopold Bloom also experiences personal and religious revelations through each inhaling and expelling of air. One such vivid example is in the chapter, entitled, Aéolus. Here, Joyce uses the heaving air of a pompous society’s fickle response to Bloom’s Jewish culture. In this chapter, we are introduced to various comparisons between Jesus Christ, Stephen Daedalus, and Bloom: their dissonant placements in their individual societies and how each has dealt with these discrepancies. Joyce describes the editor as having a ‘scarlet beaked face,’ a ‘comb of feathery hair’ and a harsh voice, similar to that of a cock crowing, once again referring to the Biblical reference of Peter rejecting Christ on the morning of his crucifixion (Blamires 49). Such reflections illustrate the iconic realism that Joyce incorporates in this novel, as he uses these iconic images within Bloom’s mind, occasionally audibly articulated by Bloom, but mostly present only in his mind, to bring the audience in alignment with the dissonance present in Bloom’s, and Joyce’s, Dublin. Through Bloom’s cognitive experience, the reader understands the ‘cross’ that he must bear. 

Another example of this use of the inhaling and expelling of air exists in the Scylla and Charybdis  chapter with the obnoxious expelling of high verbiage between Stephen Daedalus and the other scholars. Here, once again, Joyce employs the use of linguistic empowerment of those who have against those who have not…or very little. Joyce, through Stephen, refers to those who do not understand the human spirit as the ‘vegetable world.’ He decides to stay firmly planted in the present, “through which all future plunges to the past” (Blamires 77). Here, Joyce unknowingly reveals an interesting foreshadowing of worldly events with which only the current reader can relate, for within 25 years of this writing, the world will revisit Joyce’s own recent past of WWI through the lens of WWII. 

Blamires, Harry, The New Bloomsday Book: A Guide through Ulysses, Routledge, New York: 1997.

Sydney Owenson's Writing and Iconic Realism: Spiritual Connection Between Humanity and Natural Law

An excerpt from my book: 

Owenson acknowledges the spiritual connection between humanity and natural law, a common theme occurring in Goethe’s works. In one of his conversations with Johann Peter Eckermann, he explains:

Freedom consists not in refusing to recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above us; for, by respecting it, we raise ourselves to it, and, by our very acknowledgment, prove that we bear within ourselves what is higher, and are worthy to be on a level with it. [1]

Owenson, then, incorporates the Romantic concept of nature’s influence on humanity’s intellectual actions while she introduces the reality of political and societal constraints through many of her characters’ struggles with self-awareness. Through this conflict, Owenson personifies the dichotomous nature of glory in which her birth nation struggles with true autonomy and its native glór (voice) to be heard. Owenson’s romantic, graceful style of writing demonstrates iconic realism through the interactions of her characters, placed in unique situations, as she awakens her society to effective conflict resolution that begins with the self.

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[1] Johann Goethe, quoted in Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann, translated by John Oxennford, edited by J.K. Moorhead (New York: Da Capo Press, 1998), p. 157.